The Best Backpacking Food
The Best Backpacking Food
Maybe your favorite backpacking food is a freeze-dried turkey dinner. There really is no "best" backpacking food. There are reasons to bring certain foods, though. Here are ten foods, and the reasons you might want to consider them.1. Nuts. This is one of the most calorie-packed foods you can take. That means less weight to carry. With lots of protein and other nutritonal benefits, nuts are one of the best backpacking foods.2. Olive oil. Add a little to your soups or dip bread in it. The best of the oils health-wise, you can eat it before sleeping, to stay warm, because fats generate heat when digested.3. Trail mixes. Any mix with raisins and nuts is great for backpacking. Vitamins, minerals, protein, and the best reason - convenience.4. Corn products. Tortilla chips or corn nuts are convenient, and they don't seem to cause the tiredness that potato chips and other simple carbohydrates can cause.5. Ramen noodles. When you need a hot meal fast, there isn't much that's better.6. Instant coffee. A necessity for caffeine addicts, and it's good to have a stimulant available for emergencies.7. Wild edible berries. Learn to identify a few, and you'll have a nutricious excuse for a break along the trail.8. Instant sports drinks. Pour a little in your water bottle and shake. Replacing electrolytes doesn't get more convenient.9. Instant refried beans. When you want sustained energy, eat beans.10. Your favorites. Having your favorite foods can help salvage a rainy backpacking trip spent in the tent.Always consider the nature of the trip when you choose your backpacking food. Hot meals are much more important in cold climates, and convenience is king, if you want to make miles. A bottle of rum might even be appropriate, if it's a trip wih friends.Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of ultralight backpacking. His advice and stories can be found at http://www.TheBackpackingSite.com
What Are the Best Exercises for the Golfer?
What Are the Best Exercises for the Golfer?
With all the talk about the players on tour getting stronger and more flexible, we hear a lot about exercising for golf from television commentators and read about it in the golf publications. But what exactly are the best exercises for the amateur golfer?A great question that has a good answer, but before we give you the answer let us provide some background so the answer makes a little more sense to you. First of all, discussing the golf swing for the time being will get us rolling.What exactly is the golf swing? The golf swing is an athletic movement that requires using of the entire body from "feet to fingertips" in order to complete the swing. Realize that the golf swing is not about the club, not just about your grip, or where your head is during the swing. The golf swing is a movement that requires your entire body to move through a sequence of movements with the correct timing. To perform the "athletic movement" of the golf swing requires the body to begin at address, move through the actual phases of the golf swing and complete it with the follow through. In order to perform this activity with efficiency and repetitively, the body must have certain physical parameters.These parameters, as I call them, are actual physical categories of the body that need to be developed to a certain level. These categories of the body are the platform from which the body is able to perform the athletic movement of a golf swing efficiently. The categories are probably familiar to many of you, but for the purpose of this article let us briefly run through them.The body is required to have certain levels of flexibility, balance, endurance, strength, and power to complete a golf swing. If the body lacks in any of the above categories, then the results will be seen in the golf swing. The results are usually in the form of poor mechanics, bad shots, or poor scores on the course. So, now that we know what the connection is between the "body" and the "swing" let us address the question about the best exercises for golf.The Best Exercises for GolfLet's say you walk into your local health club and see all the fancy machines and aerobic machines at the facility to get you shape. What ones would choose? Would you choose running on the treadmill for 30 minutes, or would it be better to push out a couple sets of bench presses? Well, the answer to our question really lies within the connection between your swing and your body.I will tell you that exercises meant to "pump you up!" or give you that "six pack" are not necessarily the correct exercises for your golf game. Neither is that weight training program you used back in high school. So, with those thoughts in mind what do you think the best exercises for golf are?Right now we know, in general terms about the golf swing, what is required of the body for the golf swing and what exercises are not good for the swing. Armed with that knowledge we can decipher what the best exercises for golf are for you.Beginning with flexibility, we know that the entire body must move through certain ranges of motion to perform an effective golf swing. And what happens if your body is not able to move through the required ranges of motion of the golf swing? The answer: the golf swing will mechanically suffer resulting in shots that are less than optimal. So part of the exercises that are good for golfers are flexibility exercises and, even more so, flexibility exercises that work the muscles used in the golf swing through the movements involved in the golf swing. So first and foremost flexibility exercises should be on the top of your list.The second category of exercises that would be conducive to the golf swing would have to do with balance. We hear about balance in reference to the golf swing all the time. "Stay balanced through the swing; transfer your weight to maintain balance during the swing?" But what does balance exactly mean? Balance is the ability to control your body through a specific movement pattern. The movement pattern we are discussing just happens to be the golf swing. We know the importance of balance in relation to the golf swing, so how do we train our body for better balance in the golf swing? Before we answer that question we need to know a little more about balance. Balance in relation to the body has to do with the connection between your nerves and muscles. Essentially your nervous system, as a result of messages sent from your brain, tells your muscles how to move to maintain the body's balance. The more efficient your nerves and muscles are to these messages the greater balance abilities the body develops. So balance exercises train both the nervous system and muscular system to become more efficient at this function. Summing it all up, balance is the second category of exercises that will assist your golf game.The third category of exercises that are beneficial to golf have to do with your muscles. The golf swing requires the muscles of your body to move through a specific range of motion (flexibility) and help with your balance capacities. In order to perform these actions and others, your body needs certain levels of strength and endurance. The definition of strength is the ability of the muscles to exert force for the given "athletic action" (simplified definition but a good working definition for us). Endurance is the ability of your muscles to do the same activity over and over again for a specific amount of time.First off, let us discuss strength. The golf swing has one intention of developing club head speed while maintaining balance through the swing. The muscles in your body must have enough strength in them to do both. Now, when we discuss building strength for the golf swing it is NOT the type of strength needed to bench press 250 lbs. Or squat 500! It is strength geared towards the improvement of your swing. I refer to this type of strength as "golf strength." So when you get to the gym, performing strength exercises like bench press will not help your swing. Exercises that train the body in the positions and through the movements of the golf swing will help your swing.In addition to strength, we need to develop endurance in your muscles. Think of how many swings you may take over the course of 18 holes. In order for you to be able to swing the club the same way on the 18th hole as you did on the 1st hole. Your body has to have high levels of endurance. This will allow your body to perform the golf swing without getting tired. You develop endurance similar to how you develop "golf strength." Utilize exercises that train the body in the positions and through the movements of the golf swing. Lighter loads with higher repetitions will be used for these exercises. The end result will be the development of "golf endurance."The final segment of exercises beneficial to your golf swing is power training. Power training is geared towards the ability of your body to generate high levels of club head speed. Power development by the body is what allows for greater distance on your shots. Clubs help, golf balls help, but it really comes down to the piece of machinery, your body, swinging those club and hitting those golf balls. Development of power for the golf swing is very similar to the development of "golf strength and endurance." It is the utilization of exercises that place your body in the positions and move you through movements similar to the golf swing.SummarySo there you have it, the answer to the types of exercises best for the improvement of your golf swing. I think you now realize it is not one exercise, but a group of exercises that incorporate flexibility, balance, endurance, strength, and power. A combination of these exercises is what will enhance your golf swing. Looking for specific exercises? Take a look at our website www.bioforcegolf.comSean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly with 2004 Masters Champion Phil Mickelson. He has made many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf swing improvement techniques available to amateur golfers on the website http://www.bioforcegolf.com. Check out his manual and DVD, Your Body & Your Swing, on BioForceGolf.com. To contact Sean, you can email him at support@bioforcegolf.com.
5 Best Free Child Games for Your Preschooler-Toddler
5 Best Free Child Games for Your Preschooler
There seems to be more and more pressure on parents these days to enrol their pre school children in all sorts of innovative learning programs. There are music and swimming classes, craft centres and activities to promote movement, motor skills or sporting ability.Did you know some of the best learning tools for your kids are right at your fingertips, literally! We as parents are the primary carers and therefore the first teachers of our children before they start school. Without all the classes and activities that we could pay for them to do, just playing simple free child games, your kids will get all the stimulation and encouragement that they need to get the best start.By providing them with an enriched environment with free activities based around your home and neighbourhood you will get more quality time with your children while enhancing their imagination and creativity.Top 5 Free Child Games / Activities- Indoors1. Storytelling- Telling stories to children promotes language, listening skills and imagination. Don't feel confined to reading from books, tell your children a special family story that helps them to know their place in the world. How mum and dad met, how great grandpa sailed in a tall-ship to start a new life in a new country, or the story of their birth. These tales will delight them time and time again, perhaps you have photos to help them put faces to names.2. Dressing Up- As children the dress-ups box was always our favorite treasure trove for creating characters for a play or story. Pretending to be dinosaurs, truck drivers, doctors, zoo keepers or even mum can keep children entertained for hours. The more props the better so always have a store of blankets for cubbies or tents and assorted boxes for cars, dolls beds or wherever their imagination takes them.3. Music- Children love a chance to dance and jump around. By the age of three they will already have some favorites which will probably have actions to match. Given the opportunity to march, stomp, clap or any other loud action will be happily accompanied by any musical instruments that you have around the house. If you don't have any, a pot and wooden spoon will do just fine!4. Craft- By using recycled materials you just need some glue, a little inspiration, and your child's creativity will do the rest. Materials can be used to create collages, space rockets, animals and a whole lot more. Keep a ready supply of recyclables by keeping cereal boxes, toilet rolls, candy wrappers, magazines and yoghurt containers. Other crafty ideas can involve play dough, paint, crayons, chalk and modelling clay! The ideas are endless.5. Board Games and Card Games- Fun for the whole family or just two bored kids looking for something to do on a rainy day. For younger children these games help them with numerical skills, taking turns and gamesmanship, as well as the concept of chance and that anyone can win the game. Super for holidays as they are easy to set up and can last for hours. There are many card games to learn from easy kids games right up complicated ones for teenagers and adults. Best of all, the only equipment needed is a deck of cards. Board games like Scrabble and Monopoly have been played for generations and will continue to be, unless everything becomes computerised!Most of these activities will be known to you, but have you played them all? If not, then get out there and enjoy some free child games with your tribe, they'll love you all the more for spending some one on one time with them.The place to go for all your games needs for 0-6 year olds is Kids Fun and Games. Educational baby and toddler games, party games, crafts, indoor and outdoor games, festivals and more.